From left, Colin Gilmore, Jason Ringenberg and Paul Burch will all be performing at the YDL's 2009 Songwriting Festival.

Ypsilanti Songwriting Festival brings day of activities

By Christine Laughren
Sep. 24, 2009 · 3:31 p.m.

Last year the Ypsilanti District Library won $5,000 for drawing a young crowd to its Ypsilanti Songwriting Festival. This year it is putting the money to good use.

On October 10, the Ypsilanti District Library’s Whittaker Road branch will play host to the event again with activities lined up throughout the day and into the evening.

Events run the gamut - from an early morning sing-a-long with Farmer Jason (Jason Ringenberg,) to a local songwriters showcase and live acoustic sets at Ypsilanti’s Corner Brewery to wrap up the night.

Donna DeButts, the library’s community relations coordinator, said with all the events planed, she expects this year’s festival to be a success. The Songwriters’ Stopwatch Challenge is one event DeButts said she was looking forward to.

Explaining the game, she said participants will select three random words from a box and challenged to write a song using the words in two hours or less. The songs will then be performed live.

“I will love to see how that works out,” she said with a chuckle.

At noon, Community Records Foundation, a local non-profit, will give teens the opportunity to take a critical look at the songwriting process as an exploration of music, message and the effect it has on community.

Several spaces are still available for mentoring sessions with local songwriters as well. DeButts said those interested can sign up, or call the library. Offering advice on songwriting are Sean Rogers, Almus Magnus, Holly Mae Haddock and Jay Lapp.

Afternoon activities give way to live performances by Matt Jones, Tracy Kash Thomas, Magnus, Rogers, Haddock and Lapp. And at 6:30 p.m. Local radio host Martin Bandyke of Ann Arbor’s 107one will lead Ringenberg in a discussion on the craft of songwriting.

After a myriad of activity at the library, the night wraps up at the Corner Brewery as 89.1 WEMU’s Jeremy Baldwin of the Roots Music Project hosts an evening celebrating songs. Colin Gilmore, Paul Burch and Ringenberg will all perform acoustic sets.

A day’s worth of activity doesn’t come free, though, and DeButts said the costs of event shirts, other promotions and booking the artists adds up.

But $5,000, awarded to the YDL last year for its work promoting the 2008 Songwriting Festival, means organizers didn’t have to worry as much about cost this time around.

The library was one of six in the nation to accept the John Cotton Dana Award last year. Judges cited the festival as “a unique public library program, which used music and performing arts to appeal to non-library users, teens and men ages 18-45. Creative, nontraditional marketing strategies and community partners helped the Library reach the targeted demographic: 75% of attendees at events were men.”

At a time when Ypsilanti Township is looking to cut costs wherever it can DeButts said the money couldn’t have come at a better time. However, she said she was unsure what the following years would hold in store.

In the end, the event is about getting people of all ages to visit the library. DeButts said with everybody suffering from the economic flu, a trip to the library is just what the doctor ordered. She pointed to the library’s CD collection as a good example of a library resource that tends to be overlooked.

“It’s all about how we can serve the community and how our resources - that we do have - can be utilized by our patrons, and when times are tight (residents) just need to think about us a little more as an entertainment resource,” she said. “It’s about the best use of people’s tax dollars.”

On the Web:For more information on the 2009 Ypsi Songwriting Festival visit the Web siteTo view a complete schedule of the event click here